


Family

by gingayellow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But that doesn't mean everything is Perfect and Good, Found Family, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-22 20:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13174200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: Keith is trying to reconnect with his father. Shiro is understandably wary of this situation. The solution, of course, is messier than either one of them would like. [Shiro/Keith, fluff. CW for mentioned child abandonment, trauma, and anxiety]





	1. Chapter 1

Title: Family  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: G  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Mentioned child abandonment, mentioned trauma, mentioned anxiety  
Notes: I……..might have used this fic to work out some of my own issues. I’m sorry!

\--

Pidge was halfway through a report when her phone buzzed. Feeling confident enough in her productivity to check it, she was greeted to a text from her mother. Pidge…wasn’t in a mood to talk to her, so she shot back a quick that she was busy, and she’d call that evening. Thankfully, her mom agreed. Even sent a smiley emoticon and everything.

Phew. That was a far cry from last year. Still, sometimes Pidge wondered if they would ever…

“Why can’t you see that he’s just using you?!”

There was people arguing outside, but what surprised Pidge was that the person yelling was Takashi “Patience Yields Focus” Shirogane—and as she peeked out the blinds of the living room she shared with her roommates Hunk and Lance, he was yelling at Keith.

Shiro and Keith were fighting. That was a scientific impossibility. 

Keith took several deep breaths, clenching his fists at his sides. “Shiro. I’m cooking Dad dinner. That’s all.”

“So after he literally abandoned you when you were seven, you’re going to reward him with a homecooked meal?” Shiro laughed bitterly. “How does that make any sense?!”

Keith remained still, save for his right hand, which he now rested on his motorcycle. “Why can’t you understand that I want a decent relationship with my father—”

“Because he left a child to die, Keith!” Shiro threw his hands up in the air, eyes wild with anger. Pidge had always seen Keith as the hotheaded loner and Shiro as Keith’s boyfriend/impulse control. Seeing the roles reverse was disturbing. 

“He’s said he was sorry—”

“That’s not good enough! **Anyone** who would do that to a child is irredeemable, it’s in his DNA—”

“Yeah, well. I share some of his DNA.” Keith’s tone was deathly dull. “Does that mean I’m irredeemable, too?”

Shiro looked like he was going to cry. “Keith. I, I didn’t mean that.”

“Didn’t you?” Keith hopped on his motorcycle. “All those times you told me I was really kind and good, and that my temper and clinginess weren’t ‘really’ who I was?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. You must know that.”

“Maybe you didn’t.” Keith put on his helmet. “But Shiro, it **is** part of me. My anger issues, my abandonment issues. That’s as much as a part of my being as the parts of me you fell in love with. You have to take the bad with the good, and that’s why I’m seeing my father.” 

Keith rode off. Shiro didn’t try to stop him.

Instead, he stomped into the apartment. “Is there any of that lemon loaf yet?”

Pidge nodded.

“Good. I need it.” Shiro hung his jacket up, and then yanked a kitchen drawer open, fishing for a butter knife.

Pidge rummaged in the fridge for their lemon loaf. “I’m guessing you and Keith aren’t going to help Hunk fix Lance’s computer after all, hunh?”

Shiro groaned, resting his head in his prosthetic. “I’m sorry. I completely forgot. And I’m sorry if you overheard what was going on.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” She checked the fridge again, and yes, Lance had not eaten the rest of the strawberries after all. She took those out as well. “Here. You slice the bread and berries, I’ll pour us some lemonade.” Hopefully, having something else to focus on would calm Shiro down. And it worked. For a couple of minutes.

“I just don’t understand him sometimes,” Shiro whispered as he transferred two slices of lemon loaf to a plate.

“He wants to see his dad. What’s not to understand?” Pidge placed two glasses of lemonade on the table, then took a seat.

“Yes, but his father abandoned him. It was only because Keith looked for him that we realized that he was even still alive.” Shiro set the rest of the table. “And Keith keeps trying to include him, but Mr. Kogane keeps shrugging him off.” He sat down and carefully arranged some strawberry slices on his slice of loaf. “I mean, he doesn’t even call Keith. All while Keith takes time off work, spend gas money, and for what?” He took a careful bite so the strawberries wouldn’t slip off. “For a man who doesn’t appreciate what a great son he has.”

“I’m not too thrilled with it either,” Pidge admitted. She’d seen Keith lose too much sleep over this whole thing. “But if Keith wants his father in his life, we should respect that.”

“I know, but why can’t he see that… that…”

“That we’re his real family, not Mr. Kogane?”

Shiro looked away. “Maybe.”

Pidge took a sip of her drink. “The idea of found families is wonderful. You can just break free from a cruel parent or sibling, and find people you truly love you. But not everyone can do that. Not everyone wants to.” Pidge took another sip. “Keith honestly believes there’s still something in his father worth loving. And if that’s good enough for Keith, that’s good enough for me.”

“I guess.” Shiro stared at his snack. “It’s just so hard to see him put in all the work, and get nothing out of it.”

“Tell me about it.” Pidge attacked her slice. “That year my mom and I had that falling out was not easy.”

Shiro nodded. “How are things with your mother?”

“Better. I don’t think we’ll be taking any family photos anytime soon, but we can have a civil conversation.” She finished her drink. “I was so mad at her because I thought she wasn’t helping Matt when he needed it, but then I realized she was going through some heavy stuff as well.” Thankfully, everyone had recovered. Matt had married a pilot named Olia, and now lived in Washington State. As for Pidge and her parents… well, they were civil to each other. And Shiro had always been more of a parent to her than her own parents, nevermind he was only ten years older than her. 

After their snack, Pidge convinced Shiro that work could wait, and to play Killbot Phantasm 1 with her. They got three solid hours of gameplay under their belt when Shiro’s phone went off.

“It’s Keith,” he breathed, putting the phone to his ear. “Hey, Keith. Yeah. Yeah, I missed you too… really? That’s great. Tell me everything.” Shiro moved into the kitchen to talk.

Pidge kept her focus on the game, because she had no doubt that Shiro and Keith would work out their problems. They were, after all, family. 

\--

Final Notes: I do have a part two with Keith and his dad plotted out, but since I also have a kajillion other things to do (;;), I decided not to end on a cliffhanger.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Family  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: G  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Mentioned child abandonment, mentioned trauma, mentioned anxiety  
Notes: Who would've thought this would be the last fic of 2017 (Well, Sheith fic, at least).

\--

It wasn’t the first time this happened to Keith. In fact, it had happened so often, there was times he wondered if there was a script people followed when they were finally done with trying to fix Keith Kogane, the creepy kid with no mom or dad and acted like he was an alien from outer space.

Because among all the kids teasing him and beating him up, there was always someone—an older kid, sometimes a teacher—who decided that they were so good, so trusting in their ability to bring out the best in others, that they would make the great sacrifice and befriend the weird kid. At least, until they realized that all the sacrifice in the world couldn’t make Keith into the happy, well-adjusted kid they really wanted. After that, they’d mumble something about toxic people before leaving him again.

Not everyone was like that, of course. His last foster mother had let him stay even after he turned eighteen—and helped support him through college, even though she had a boy of her own. Said boy, Hunk, was the first to admit he didn’t understand Keith, but he helped him with math and let him taste test his cooking and play video games with him. 

Shiro wasn’t like that. Keith had told him about the mother who left him when he was four, and the father who left him when he was seven. How he still had nightmares that he needed to go home, because Dad’s last words were that he’d be back soon, so be ready to open the door. How he had trouble understanding people. Shiro had accepted that, and more. He’d even helped Keith when he finally worked up the nerve to tell Shiro that he wanted to find his father’s grave.

Until it turned out that Dad wasn’t in a grave. Dad was alive, and living in shack in a desert about an hour’s drive away. And he was living completely alone, and didn’t have anyone except the son he abandoned. Then, suddenly, Shiro was also talking about how there were some people that weren’t worth saving. People who would never be redeemed, no matter what they did. 

Keith wasn’t naïve. If a man hadn’t spoken to his son for twenty years, he didn’t think he was going to be a great father. But he was still Keith’s father, and Keith was not going to lose him a second time.

Keith parked his motorcycle a few feet away from the shack’s front porch. “Guess I’m home.”

\--

“Son. You’re home.”

“Yep,” Keith said easily as he examined the fridge, then the cabinets. Dad was doing better with buying the necessities on his own, but things were still pretty barren. Well, they both liked buttered noodles. They could just do that again. “Want me to pop something in the VCR, Dad?” 

Dad smiled at him from his beat-up arm chair. “There’s a cowboy film I’m fond of. But I don’t know if you kids like that sort of stuff.”

“I love cowboy films,” Keith assured him as he knelt down next the box where Dad kept his old tapes. Hunk would probably go wild if he saw this—media that had started to die out when Hunk’s grandmother was young, but it seemed to fit Dad. If anything, it seemed too modern for Dad—Keith hadn’t even realized that he had a VCR until he did his first big clean of the shack. And while he liked movies well enough, he didn’t seem to watch them unless Keith suggested it. 

After the credits began to play, Keith started boiling some water. “So, Dad, how’s the old place holdin’ up?”

“Better.” Dad was looking at the TV, but Keith wasn’t sure if he was paying attention to the film. “Thanks for fixing the AC.”

Keith chucked, pouring the noodles into the now boiling water. “Dad, you live in a desert. You kinda need it.”

Dad chuckled as well. “Heh. You’re pretty funny, son.”

“You don’t get out a lot, Dad.” After a few minutes, Keith mixed in the butter, cheese, then some pepper. “C’mon, pause the tape. Dinner is served.”

\--

They ate in silence, which was fine with Keith. Not everyone moment had to be filled with noise, after all. They were almost done with dinner when Dad said, “Son, thank you. For everything.”

“Dad, this is…” He almost said _this is what family does_ , but that hurt too much to say out loud. Instead, he said, “This is nothing. I like helping you out. How are you holding up?”

“I’m alive.” Dad smiled sadly. “But I wanna hear about you.” He leaned forward, the smile becoming a little less sad. “You’re always askin’ about me. But I wanna know ‘bout you.”

“There’s not much to say,” Keith began. “You may already know everything. You know that I’m a mechanic, I can only cook about six dishes, and I have a motorcycle.”

“There’s gotta be more. You got a girl yet?”

Keith cleared his throat, and took a long sip of water. He supposed now was a good of time as any. “Actually, I got a guy.”

“Oh? Oh!” Dad’s smile was completely real now. “That’s wonderful! What’s his name; you need to bring him here sometime!”

“I. Um. His name is Shiro.” Dad was happier than Keith had ever seen him. “And we’re… having some trouble.”

“Oh.” The smile faded, and Keith felt his heart sink. “Son, you have to fix it.”

“I want to. But it’s complicated—”

“But you **have** to, or—or—” Dad wasn’t looking at him. “I guess now’s when I tell you why I left you when you were a kid.” 

“Dad.” Keith wanted to know why, more than anything. But he also didn’t want to force information out of an old man. “If you—”

“No.” Dad took a deep breath. “You deserve to know. When your mother left, I… I was in a bad place.”

“I remember.” It’d happened slowly. Dad had just… gotten really quiet and really sad all of a sudden, and Keith hadn’t been able to stop it.

“Our family was broken and hurting. So, I decided to find your mother. Try to fix whatever happened, so we could be together again. I looked and looked, but she was gone.” Dad hid his face in his hands. “And I couldn’t face you after that. I just couldn’t. So Lord help me, I disappeared too.”

“Dad…” Keith had never known what to do when he happened upon Dad crying when he was a kid. He didn’t really know what to do know as an adult. All he really could do was stand up, behind his father, rubbing his back. “It was her fault for leaving us. Not yours.”

“Yeah, but I left you,” Dad insisted, looking up at Keith with wet eyes. “Son, can you ever forgive for that?”

“No. Not yet, at least. But we can move on from that. You messed up, but you’re trying to make up for it. That means something to me.”

Dad sniffled. “A real father would—”

“Society has sickeningly idealized versions of both parenthood and friendship, so that you’ll feel like a failure when you inevitably mess up and buy their stuff in an attempt to perfect yourself,” Keith snapped, not necessarily just at his dad. “Now finish your meal, and then it’s back to movie night.”

Dad blinked, and took his fork. With an almost smile, he said. “I don’t know where you get that aggressive/domestic streak from. It’s certainly not me.”

“Didn’t you say Grandpa was a drill sergeant, and then quit so he could devote himself full-time to raising four boys?”

“He did. You know, now that I’m feeling better, maybe we could look some of them up. I think Hiroshi lives nearby.”

“Maybe.” Keith sat down again, and smiled at his father. “Right now, I’m fine where I am.”

\--

“Tell me everything,” Shiro said over the phone.

“Are you sure?” Keith had stopped at a recharge station on the way back, and finally worked up the nerve to call Shiro while he was stretching his legs. “You were the one who called my dad an irredeemable monster and all.”

“Yes, well.” Shiro sighed heavily. “I’ve been thinking about that. I have no right to tell you what to think about your father.”

“That’s right, you don’t.”

“I was scared, Keith. He hurt you so bad before. I don’t know what I’d do if he hurt you again.”

… Oh. So that was what this was about. “There’s a part of me that’s convinced he’s going to just vanish again, house and all.” He hadn’t admitted that to anyone, not even Shiro. Not until now. “So I keep going, and trying to build something that’s strong enough so he doesn’t feel the need to run away again.”

“Oh, baby.” Shiro hasn’t spoken that softly to him in a long time. “Of course. But even if he does leave you again, it’s not your fault.”

“I know.” Keith rubbed the back of his neck. “So, um, did we break up when we last spoke? Because if we did, I was hoping it would be okay if I got my—”

“What?! No! No, of course not!” Shiro huffed grumpily. “Keith, I love you. Nothing will change that, I promise. Now please, come home.”

“Okay. I’ll swing by Hunk’s and pick you up. Love you, too.” Keith couldn’t stop grinning as he stored his phone back in his pocket.

Shiro hadn’t left him.


End file.
